A Little Game
by ghostfireninja
Summary: Leo doesn't really hate games. But then when it came to telling some things true, he would rather prefer to hear others do it. Liper. One shot. Sorry for the bad summary. R/R


**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson.**

**A/N: Hello there. I just want to say that I used to be a Liper fan. But then Caleo came and they are just totally adorable. It's just, the fire that burns within Liper isn't completely gone, and I wanted to write something for them. My feels for them just suddenly returned. Well, this is my second time writing Liper. Okay. Enough blabber, here it is. R/R :D**

* * *

When the mouth of the bottle pointed at Leo, he was certain he shouldn't have agreed on Piper when she suggested "Spin the Bottle". All eyes landed on him when the glass stopped spinning. He was thinking of something that would stop them from asking truth or dare.

Tell them he's suddenly sleepy? No one would buy that.

Fetch them some drinks? They are probably more interested in torturing him than quenching their thirsts.

They gave him much time to think of an escape plan, which didn't really help. All plans he could think of weren't fool proof. Hazel said the words first.

"Truth or dare?" She asked, her lips slowly forming into a curve.

He thought about it. Dare? He suddenly remembered Percy picking dare, and what they made him do wasn't fun at all. It was embarrassing, and nobody could blame them. What's the point of this game anyway but getting yourself into all sorts of trouble.

He decided to pick truth.

Perhaps half of the people in the room stopped smiling. Perhaps they were just too stunned that Leo chose truth instead of dare. He wasn't the type of person who would say a lot of secrets, after all. Or probably, they were just too confused on what to ask him.

The last choice was probably the most accurate.

For a moment they were all silent, as if they don't know what to say. Which was pretty much true.

"No? Okay let's skip." Leo said, hoping it would convince them. But they weren't convinced at all.

"Wait wait." Piper said.

"Oh come on, Pipes." He pleaded. "You won't get anything good from me at all."

"Should we ask him about who he was thinking of when we found him back. You know, that time after Khione made him fly?" Piper suggested.

"Probably." Percy said. "But I tell you, I think I know who that person is already."

All eyes turned to Percy, including Leo's, which was probably wider than the others.

"Whoah whoah. It's just a guess." Percy said, holding his hands up as if he was under arrest. He looked straight into Leo. "Do I know her?"

Leo didn't answer, but the look on his face was too obvious. It read yes.

Percy chuckled. "Yeah I think I know her." The others weren't very amused. Annabeth, surprisingly, was as curious as everyone else. She nudged her shoulders at Percy, who was smiling beside her. "Who is it?" She secretly asked.

"You'll just have to wait before the bottle lands on me." Percy said, smiling at Leo. Leo wanted to thank him. Percy had helped him out of an awkward situation. Now the next thing he need to do is to keep the bottle away from Percy the next time they would spin it.

Then Jason stood up. Everyone looked at him. "I'm just going to get some food." He said. "All this sitting and spinning has made me hungry."

"Oh please you are just trying to avoid the next turn." Hazel said.

"Nope." Jason said. "I'm hungry." Jason said, half lying. He was afraid, after all that if the bottle would land on him, they would ask him sort of the same question they did with Leo.

Leo sighed. He wished he could go with Jason. But…

"Oh. I've got a good one." Frank said.

"I hope it's good for me too." Leo said.

Frank smiled before turning to Piper, who was as confused as Leo when Frank did so.

"Before Jason, you and Piper were… pretty close."

"Yeah?" Leo said. He was starting to get a little nervous. Well, if they're going to ask him something about Piper, that wouldn't be too hard. He knows her a little too well. He was her best friend after all. And she, his best friend too.

He knows that she shudders a bit whenever they watch a movie in which her father is starring in, and the girls at the back woo on his acting skills. He knows she hates bugs, beetles particularly. He knows she almost drowned one time when they were playing in wilderness camp, if only he hadn't saved her.

Yet she still jumped on the water when he came back from an underwater tour. And he got a kiss on the cheek too.

"Soo… were there instances when you think you liked her more than a friend?" Frank continued.

Crap. He didn't think of that question, he didn't manage to dodge it. He nervously looked at Piper, who was trying hard not to laugh. Why would she think this is funny anyway?

His hands were now caged with Hazels, and it would be pretty painful if he decided not to answer the question. Hazel's got a tight grip, after all. "Ahhh." He can feel Hazel's grip tightening a bit.

"Wait, that's not a valid question." Leo said. "Hera messed with our minds, after all. Right Pipes?"

"Yeah." Piper said, though she was still laghing.

"Either way. Instincts." Frank said.

"Yeah." Percy agreed. "I remembered Annabeth too, even when Hera messed me up pretty bad." He turned to Annabeth and gave her a big grin.

Meanwhile, Hazel was hopeless.

"Ok ok." He said. "I… I don't know. I- I think I did."

They were silent, but it wasn't for too long.

"I mean, come on." Leo said. "Anyone would've fallen for her right? Especially when you know her a lot more than others." He looked at Piper, his eyes looked as if he was saying sorry.

"Seriously, Leo?" Piper said. But she wasn't angry or annoyed about it. She just felt, looked like the same old Piper.

"I guess so." Leo said.

"Are you sure that's not a product of Hera's butting in?" Hazel said.

"Yeah. Yeah, it's kind of different. Like it's from a different kind of memory." He paused. "But- but it doesn't matter anymore. I mean, yeah. It wouldn't make sense now, would it? Everything's different now, everything changed so…" He tried to laugh. He then looked at Piper. "Sorry Pipes."

She kind of laughed too. "Don't say sorry. It's… it's not bad of a confession."

Leo was thankful Jason wasn't there to hear it.

* * *

When they were done playing and everybody seemed to be so sleepy, Piper snuck up behind Leo, who was yawning and steering the Argo II's wheel.

"Hey." She said.

Leo almost jumped out of his skin when he heard her. He turned around, still kind of embarrassed."I am never playing Spin the Bottle with those guys again." He grinned, trying to keep his Leo-level on.

"Yeah." She agreed. Before she can continue to say more, she walked closer towards Leo, then she balled her fist and aimed it as his arm, just near the shoulder. It wasn't hard, and she meant it that way. "Was that true, though?"

"Yeah." Leo said. "But… don't remind me. It's really embarrassing, especially when you're the one asking me about it."

"Yeah." She said. "Okay." She stopped for a while, then she landed her little fist on him again. This time, a little bit harder, but it still didn't mean any harm.

Leo looked at her, and he was smiling.

She can't help but smile back too, even if she was feeling teensy annoyed at him.

"Why didn't you tell me then?" Piper said, clearly not understanding what Leo just said a while ago.

"Well, I don't know Pipes. We were friends, we have fun, I always see you, I guess that was pretty much enough."

"You think so?" Piper shifted from where she was standing.

"Yeah." Leo said, now keeping an eye on up front. There was silence. Then Leo spoke some more. "Besides, I mean, you're with Jason now. Everything's fine... and I have someone waiting for me." He smiled.

"Who're you talking about anyway?" Piper said. "You don't always tell me a lot of things."

Leo just laughed.

"Like what I've just known today. You like keeping secrets, do you?"

"Sorry." He said. "Do you hate me now?" He was joking.

"No." Piper said. "Never... But still, you're a bit of a… I don't know. I'm calling you a coward, or maybe a bit stupid for not telling me then."

The light from the fireplace on their side was a little too bright.

But Leo's face was a little red, and it wasn't because of the fire.

"Well, Hera messed us up, and when we came back, BOOM. You're with Jason." Leo said, trying to laugh.

"Still." Piper said. "I mean, before that. Why didn't you?"

"Oh. I don't know." Leo said. "We wouldn't know, Pipes. What if I already did? Or What if I didn't?"

Piper looked down. "Yeah. Yeah you're right." She looked up at him, and for a moment the two of them were like back at wilderness camp. The way when Leo was the only one who'd listen to her problems, the way he's the only one who'd see her eyes shine like that when she wanted to clear up something. As it did this time. She spoke. "Hera messed up with us. You wouldn't know, but what if there were instances when I liked you more than a friend too?"

"Oh. I guess… that's not quite possible."

"You can't be too sure."

"Guess so." Leo said. "But then Hera still came… And if ever that was true, it's been replaced with something equally wonderful, right?"

She didn't answer him. Instead, he just called his name.

"Hmmm?"

"You have to tell me who's that girl you said is 'waiting for you' alright?" Piper said, trying to close the discussion.

"Of course. Soon, beauty queen." Leo said, before grinning back at her.

_Beauty queen._ Only he calls her that, it's became some sort of a nickname he conjured up. And even if that was pretty annoying at first, Piper had learned to like it in some ways. When someone would call her other than her name, she'd know who it was.

"Repair boy..." He stuck her tongue at him. "Promise me when we win this thing, we'd mess up Hera pretty bad too."

"Uhh. I agree with you there, Pipes, but I don't want to turn into some kind of animal or anything."

Piper laughed. "We're just going to ask her a lot of questions. And I mean a lot. I have to confirm if what you said was really true."

"I'm hurt. Don't you trust me that much?" Leo said.

"I want to confirm mine too, okay." She said.

"What to confirm?" Leo asked.

"No more questions. I'm sleepy." She said. "Good night, captain. Don't sleep too late."

"Yeah. To you too, beautiful." He said before turning back and steering the ship to its course.

She misses some things he used to say to her.

The light from the fireplace on their side was a little too bright.

He spoke again before she can leave. "And if you can't sleep." He smiled. "You can always stay with me and talk to me like you always do. You know I have trouble sleeping sometimes too. Just come around here and… like… yeah. Good night." He quickly turned around.

Piper's face was red, and it wasn't because of the fire.


End file.
